History and political science Name Instructor Course Institution Date Virtues and shortcomings of Britain’s ‘un-codified’ Constitution A constitution is a set of rules and guidelines that are printed in a sovereign state. The difference between the British constitution and the constitution in other countries is that the British constitution is un-codified, meaning that it is not a book or writing that outlines some of the state rules…

Extract of sample"Critically assess the virtues and shortcomings of Britain's 'un-codified' Constitution. Critically assess the Pr"

Download file to see previous pages
For this reason, the acts and laws passed in parliament become the constitution, as long as they have respect to the sovereignty of parliament as well as the principles of governance and legislation. The parliament in this case is sovereign and superior to every other institution in Britain, which means that it has the mandate of interpreting the constitution, thereby representing the sovereign will of the people. The un-codified British constitution constitutes values and political ideas that are based on ideals and precepts rather than fundamentals that are based on texts or documents (Williams, 1998: p 57). This means that the constitution and laws are symbols of the embodiment of their political culture, traditions and values of the British society. One of the strengths of the un-codified British constitution is that it is flexible. Many countries with the codified constitution find it difficult to pass legislation since the government is accountable and the constitution is protects individuals. For instance, Britain was able to pass legislation meant to detain terror suspects for a long period after several terrorist attacks. Other countries with the codified constitution during this period found it difficult to do the same since their constitutions were protecting the liberties of individuals (Watts, 2007: p 204). For this reason, these governments were not able to detain the terror suspects for a long duration, as the relevant authorities continued with their investigations. Apart from the flexibility of the un-codified constitution, its other strength is that it is able to evolve. Individuals in society live according to the changes in the political climate. This gives the British parliament the power to change some of the laws that seem to be outdated, consequently changing the way people live in the society (Watts, 2007: p 202). The ability of the evolution of the un-codified constitution creates an environment that is comfortable for individuals to reside. For instance, in 1867, sovereignty was given to parliament, after it was taken away from the monarchy, which was responsible for the creation of a democratic political environment. This change made it possible for individuals to know their place in society. On the other hand, other than the opposition in parliament, there are no provisions for checking the government. This is one of the major shortcomings of the un-codified constitution. The absence of the checks and balance mechanisms might lead to the creation of an unjust political system, where the government might be in a position to oppress individuals in the society selectively. Using the previous example on terrorism, the British government had the capability of holding suspects for long periods, and with the probability that they might be lacking enough evidence to charge them, the detainment would be an infringement on the rights of the individual. Contrary to this, the codified constitution presents an opportunity for the creation of a political system that is just (Williams, 1998: p 52). In this case, the government will not be able to oppress individuals in the society, unless they have concrete evidence that a suspect is a terrorist. Before charging the suspect, he or she will be able to continue enjoying some of the rights and freedoms in society.
...Download file to see next pagesRead More

The data stored in the system can be shared across the different departments of the organization through network at any point of time. These data ranges from simple patient information to complex diagnosis reports and medication of the patients.

This is because of the international conventions and regulations that bind various nations and spell out some accepted codes of existence.In most cases,when these codes are broken,leading to all kinds of humanitarian crisis in individual countries,the resultant consequence has been for the international world to intervene

The laxity of the Sudan government in countering the conflicts made the condition dire; thus, attracting international awareness. The Janjaweed from the North brutally evicted the blacks in the South Sudan. According to Mamdani (2009), this eviction process was characterized by massacres, rape and embezzlement.

After the conservative party government took over the government from the Labor party in 1951, it did not dismantle the policy frameworks that had previously been used by the government to create a welfare state. This therefore reveals that the political as well as the public elite within the country accepted and acknowledged the policies that were in operation during the post war period.

In 1986 three countries imposed ban on the import of hazardous waste. In August 1986, a cargo ship from Philadelphia, USA took 14,000 tons of toxic waste material and started dumping on the seas after some initial dumping in Haiti across five continents for 27 months with change of names several times.

Some scholars believe that Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy are the only true fascist models, while others believe that Nazi Germany should be entirely excluded from the definition of fascism (Umland, 2005, p. 35). There are a number of reasons why fascism is so hard to define, according to Paxton (1998).

In 1996 the Secretary General of the UN, at the 52nd session of the Commission for Human Rights (CHR) was requested to expand the guidelines of the human rights with respect to HIV/AIDS, prepare a report of findings and ensure those finding were disseminated internationally.

The theory of two presidencies by Wildavsky significantly reveal how institutions in American influence the approach taken by a president. In outlining the theory of dual presidencies, Wildavsky explained that although the American nation had one president at any particular time in practice, in theory there exists’ two presidencies.

The rise in tourism and the resultant environmental inconsistencies arising out of the same has led to an increased concern regarding the sustainability of the tourist destinations. Governments, across the globe, are now increasingly and actively participating in efforts directed towards promoting eco-tourism.